(Reuters) - The federal government would need a warrant from a judge ifit wants the cooperation of California officials in searching residents'cellphone and computer records, under a bill making its way through thestate legislature.

The bill, which passed the state Senate with just one opposing vote onMonday, was introduced in the wake of information leaked by formerNational Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showing massiveinternal surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA.

"The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is very clear. It saysthe government shall not engage in unreasonable search and seizure,"said the bill's author, Democratic State Senator Ted Lieu, ofTorrance. "The National Security Agency's massive and indiscriminatecollecting of phone data on all Americans, including more than 38million Californians, is a threat to our liberty and freedom."

The California bill is the farthest along of several such measures thathave been introduced in eight states, according to Lieu's spokesman JeffGozzo, including Alaska, Arizona and Oklahoma.

It comes as Congress wrestles with a similar bill at the national level.

A federal judge ruled last year that the National Security Agency'spractice of gathering so-called meta-data on U.S. residents was likelyunconstitutional, but the ruling is being appealed by the Obamaadministration.

The California bill would not allow law enforcement and other officialsin the most populous U.S. state to assist federal agencies looking forrecords of phone calls, Internet use or other electronic activity byresidents unless a warrant has been issued by a judge.

It was opposed by the California District Attorneys Association, whichsaid the bill was too vague.

Post by Thad FloryanContent-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bithttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/20/us-usa-california-spying-idUSBREA4J02I20140520By Sharon Bernstein, Sacramento Mon May 19, 2014 10:16pm EDT(Reuters) - The federal government would need a warrant from a judge ifit wants the cooperation of California officials in searching residents'cellphone and computer records, under a bill making its way through thestate legislature.The bill, which passed the state Senate with just one opposing vote onMonday, was introduced in the wake of information leaked by formerNational Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden showing massiveinternal surveillance of U.S. citizens by the NSA."The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is very clear. It saysthe government shall not engage in unreasonable search and seizure,"said the bill's author, Democratic State Senator Ted Lieu, ofTorrance. "The National Security Agency's massive and indiscriminatecollecting of phone data on all Americans, including more than 38million Californians, is a threat to our liberty and freedom."The California bill is the farthest along of several such measures thathave been introduced in eight states, according to Lieu's spokesman JeffGozzo, including Alaska, Arizona and Oklahoma.It comes as Congress wrestles with a similar bill at the national level.A federal judge ruled last year that the National Security Agency'spractice of gathering so-called meta-data on U.S. residents was likelyunconstitutional, but the ruling is being appealed by the Obamaadministration.The California bill would not allow law enforcement and other officialsin the most populous U.S. state to assist federal agencies looking forrecords of phone calls, Internet use or other electronic activity byresidents unless a warrant has been issued by a judge.It was opposed by the California District Attorneys Association, whichsaid the bill was too vague.

There's no need for the state to help. AT&T makes money sending theirdata to the NSA.